InFocus: The Coalition to End Hunger

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – Many families are preparing to celebrate the holidays. But for others, especially those with limited financial means, this time of year can be very stressful and sometimes have to choose between buying food or paying bills.In Western Massachusetts over 200,000 people deal with hunger and food insecurity every day, all year-long.

This Sunday on 22News InFocus we’ll be learning about a new collaborative initiative that has been created to help address this issue. A group of representatives from non-profit agencies, colleges, health care, federal, state and local lawmakers across the four western Massachusetts counties have organized to create the COALITION TO END HUNGER. We’ll discuss why they created this initiative, their mission, and what they’re doing to end hunger in our region.

The COALITION TO END HUNGER was launched in 2017 as a result of recommendations developed in 2016 by the Task Force to End Hunger in western Massachusetts. The community collaboration identifies the root cause of food insecurity such as lack of access to healthy food, housing, medical and transportation services, and provides services and resources to individuals and families needing help.

“Folks face so many interacting forces that result in hunger,” explains Andrew Morehouse, executive director of The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. “There’s not enough public awareness around the issue of hunger, and in fact, there’s a lot of stigma associated with hunger. If we’re going to actually end hunger, we have to learn about it and address the underlying causes of it. So we brought two dozen thought leaders together over 12 months and came up with an action plan.”

You can watch 22News InFocus this Sunday at noon, on the air, or streaming on your mobile device using the 22News app. And if you miss it, you’ll find it on our website at WWLP.com.